Watermarks is a
collection of new poetry, stories and non-fiction by lido lovers and wild
swimmers: writers who find inspiration in or near outdoor pools, lakes, rivers
and other wild waters.

Full of quick turns, graceful strokes and surprising
dives into the depths, this is writing to make us catch our breath, laugh in
delight or shiver a little.

Our call for new poetry, short fiction and
life-writing celebrating the life aquatic was answered by swimmers at home and
abroad. F Scott Fitzgerald wrote that ‘all good writing is swimming under water
and holding your breath’ and all the writer-swimmers in the book had us hold
ours a little too.

Lake
Ontario. Skarðsvík. Isola Santa. Galway. Hong Kong. Trollhagen. In waters from around the world, we are immersed in birth and death, danger and rescue, new loves and
last. Ness Cove. Spitchwick. Thurlestone. Sharrah. Swimmers closer to home take
us places few know and less dare: freezing
mountain pools, rivers in full spate where buoyancy is lost suddenly in froth
and bubbles.

With work by more than fifty fine writers, the collection includes an extract from Alexandra
Heminsley’s new memoir Leap In and work by Lynne Roper, the visionary
West Country wild swimmer and former press officer for OSS who died in August
2016.